Mmkay now Haru should leave so that Jaeha's brain can reset.

...Jaeha kind of doesn't want him to, but c.f. what he just said about simping. Also now that his brain is there Haru is still shirtless and still really attractive, and while he eventually did kind of get used to Lee Tae-gun's tendency to just never put literally any clothes on while at home Haru is a completely new and different person and therefore he is not yet immune to his attractiveness. And even if they are making inroads towards maybe becoming somewhat friendlier that is STILL NOT COOL.

ARGH.

Haru cannot read his mind; he putters around in the kitchen, puts away the maple syrup, checks his phone, eventually puts his shirt on. Then, finally: "I'm gonna head out, but I'll see you tonight?"

"Yeah, see you," finally stop distracting him argh.

Haru waves as the teleportation reverses all his colors and disappears him.

And now Jaeha has something to do which he hasn't done in a long, long time. He won't even hate himself while doing it.

Haru comes back that evening, backlashed and singed. "This one had geysers! I do not think I was a good fit for it but maybe the sensor report was bad, I'll have to ask Paula."

"Welcome back," Jaeha calls from the kitchen. "What was the dungeon about?"

"Mostly the geysers, it wasn't even that fun to take photos of, there were rhinoceroses but they looked almost normal, but people were getting scalded so if I was the most rapidly available rescuer who wouldn't get gored by a rhino so be it, I guess. That smells amazing."

"And it is," ding, "ready, perfect timing." He'll go serve them.

"What is it?" Haru asks, plopping down at the table.

"It's a Tunisian dish called lablabi. Chickpea stew with garlic and bread." And it took FOREVER to cook. SO LONG. Haru would have DIED OF BOREDOM waiting for it. It was not fast at ALL. And it will be the BEST FUCKING STEW Haru has EVER EATEN.

"Whoa, you also baked? Amazing -" Omf.

"Damn but you missed your calling as a chef." Om nom nom.

"Sure you don't prefer waffles?" he asks primly.

"I like waffles fine but you're a really good cook!"

"Maybe someday I'll even cook you breakfast, too," if he's fine with waiting that long.

"Can't scare me."

"I would ask if you have preferences but I'm not sure I'd listen if you told me them."

"I'm not picky relative to my culture, I have limited tolerance for, like, spice and snails and entire baby birds cooked in their shells, that kind of thing, but I will try stuff and probably like most of it." Om nom nom nom.

"I find that kind of thing—baby birds cooked in their shells, foie gras—distasteful, and will not be cooking it. Nor octopuses and squids, they're too smart. Noted about the snails, though."

"I have actually tried escargot and it tasted, like, fine, but this did not actually make me less apprehensive about the second bite than I was about the first one so it didn't seem to be a good investment of willpower to keep going."

"It's not that nice anyway," he shrugs. "Eighty-five percent of the flavour is just the seasoning."

"Yeah, there are other ways to put garlic in my face. Like this. This is good, maybe if when Ren was a vegetarian for three months she'd had this recipe she'd have stuck with it."

"Three months?"

"Yeah, she didn't feel quite well on the diet after that long so she stopped. She does this with lots of things. She's presently attending Quaker meetings but a couple years ago she was Buddhist. Similar with hobbies. Vegetarianism I guess she kept till she had a reason to stop, instead of just drifting off?"